The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

College of San Mateo’s top track and field athletes passed through the Northern California Trials successfully over the weekend at American River College and will return for the finals there on Saturday.

The target: finalist spots in the California Community College Athletic Association Championships which CSM hosts on May 17-18.

Coast Conference individual men’s champions Evan McDaniel, Anthony Capitulo and Roman Skovronski — plus the gold medal 4 x 100 meter relay team — all qualified easily for Saturday’s NorCal finals.

McDaniel, the national community college leader in the shot put, led the qualifying field by nearly three feet with his put of 55 feet, 7 1/2 inches. He was also the No. 4 hammer throw qualifier (168-5) and made the finals in the discus throw (145-10), along with teammate Collin Luu (155-11).

Capitulo was the No. 2 qualifier in the javelin throw (184-3) and will be joined in the finals by teammate Scott Chisea (170-10).

Skovronski, the early season state leader in the 400 meter hurdles, was far and away the top qualifier that race — in 52.92 seconds. He will be accompanied in Saturday’s finals by teammate Kevin Kutchera, the No. 6 qualifier in 55.65.

Moreen Pahulu made the NorCal finals in all four women’s throwing events.

She was the No. 3 qualifier in the javelin throw (111-9), was seventh in the shot put (36-9), ninth in the hammer throw (132-6), and 11th in the discus throw (114-11)

Breanna Navarre reached the 100-meter finals in 12.24 and is the first alternate in the 200-meters after running 25.19 into a headwind. Four of the qualifiers had a legal aiding wind in their heat. Section winners qualify automatically, while the other finalists are determined on time.

Both of CSM men’s relay teams qualified. The 4×100 meter team ran 41.95 to move up to No. 3 on the Bulldogs’ all-time list. The 4×400 quartet ran 3:21.50.

Dijohn Williams tied for 12th in the men’s long jump at 21-10 3/4 to just squeeze into the finals.

In the only men’s championship race on the meet’s first day, Anthony Cortes finished ninth in the 10,000 meters in 33:45.30. Cortes will have another shot at making the state finals this Saturday in the 5,000 meters, which had no prelims.

The first six placers in both the men’s and women’s 10K races are the initial individual event qualifiers for the state meet at CSM. Those finals will be run on Friday, May 17, starting at 11 a.m.

The men’s NorCal winner was Will Reyes of American River in 32:01.87. The women’s champion was Victoria Alcala of Hartnell (39:05.82).